This week information came in on TiVo's official pricing for its upcoming and much anticipated Series3 tuner. Although TiVo has not made an announcement on its website or through a press release, an aricle in an issue of Popular Mechanics and first covered by Engadget confirms the pricing to be $800. DailyTech previously reported that TiVo had sent out a batch of Series3 tuners to major broadcasters for final phase of testing and according to reports, Series3 tuners will be available very soon. TiVo originally claimed that its Series3 would be avilable early 2006, but due to whatever reason, the release date was pushed back.

The Series3 tuner has been long in waiting and features dual CableCARD 1.0 slots, or the unit can be switched into CableCARD 2.0 mode with only one card. The unit will be able to operate in dual stream mode or single stream mode depending on user subscriptions.

TiVo is currently in a legal battle with EchoStar over DVR patent issues. TiVo took EchoStar to court claiming that EchoStar willingly infringed on several TiVo patents that cover the well known time-warping feature. Preliminary ruling sided with TiVo and forced EchoStar to disable all DVRs that it had shipped to customers but a ruling by the Federal Courts of Appeals blocked the injunction until further investigation. As of right now, EchoStar subscribers appear to be safe.